Somewhere close to 6 p.m. today marks Winter Solstice. I spent a few minutes reading Wikipedia about how other cultures have traditionally celebrated this shortest and magical day of the year.

Being a regular celestial event, you can well imagine how rich cultural rituals have become around this time of the year.

I kinda like the Yule festival of the Scots. We should revive troll chasing and first-footing, but the Kalash of Pakistan can keep the goat tripe. No offense. Here’s more on Hogmanay:

The New Years Eve celebration of Scotland is called Hogmanay. The name derives from the old Scots name for Yule gifts of the Middle Ages. The early Hogmanay celebrations were originally brought to Scotland by the invading and occupying Norse who celebrated a solstitial new year (England celebrated the new year on March 25). In 1600, with the Scottish application of the January 1 New year and the church’s persistent suppression of the solstice celebrations, the holiday traditions moved to December 31. The festival is still referred to as the Yules by the Scots of the Shetland Islands who start the festival on December 18 and hold the last tradition (a Troll chasing ritual) on January 18. The most widespread Scottish custom is the practice of first-footing which starts immediately after midnight on New Years. This involves being the first person (usually tall and dark haired) to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbor and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as salt (less common today), coal, shortbread, whisky, and black bun (a fruit pudding) intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. Food and drink (as the gifts, and often Flies cemetery) are then given to the guests.